U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,024,175 and 4,087,544, which are herein incorporated by reference, disclose novel cyclic amino acids of Formula A ##STR1## wherein R.sub.1 is a hydrogen atom or a lower alkyl radical and n is 4, 5, or 6 and the pharmacologically compatible salts thereof.
The compounds disclosed in the above United States patents are useful for the therapy of certain cerebral diseases, for example, they can be used for the treatment of certain forms of epilepsy, faintness attacks, hypokinesia, and cranial traumas. Additionally, they bring about an improvement of cerebral functions and thus are useful in treating geriatric patients. Particularly valuable is 1-(aminomethyl)-cyclohexaneacetic acid (gabapentin).
Gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) is an inhibitory amino acid found in the mammalian central nervous system (CNS). It has been reported that dysfunction with GABA neurotransmission in the CNS may contribute or even cause psychiatric and neurological diseases, such as epilepsy, schizophrenia, Parkinson's disease, Huntington's Chorea, and dyskinesia (Saletu, B, et al, International Journal of Clinical Pharmacology, Therapy and Toxicology, 24, pages 362 to 373 (1986)). Gabapentin was designed as a GABA analog that would cross the blood-brain barrier. Gabapentin was found to have anticonvulsant and antispastic activity with extremely low toxicity in man.
The aforementioned compounds of Formula A including gabapentin have been prepared, from a compound of formula ##STR2## wherein R.sub.2 is an alkyl radical containing up to eight carbon atoms and n is as defined above, by well known standard reactions such as, for example, the Hofmann, Curtius, or Lossen rearrangements, into the amino derivatives of Formula A. Although these reactions provide the target compounds they require a large number of synthetic steps and in some cases involve potentially explosive intermediates.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,152,326 discloses cyclic sulphonyloxyimides of formula ##STR3## wherein R.sub.2 is a saturated, straight-chained, branched or cyclic lower aliphatic radical or an unsubstituted or substituted aryl radical and n is 4, 5, or 6 which can be converted into a compound of Formula A. Again, similar to the previous processes, this process requires a large number of synthetic steps to obtain a compound of Formula A.
The object of the present invention is an improved process for preparing the compounds described above by using a novel synthesis. The particularly valuable gabapentin can be prepared in fewer steps and higher yields than the previous methods. Moreover, the present method proceeds from inexpensive starting materials and is amenable to large-scale synthesis.